District 5 Diary

Rob Anderson's commentary on San Francisco politics from District 5

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Gascon endorses Harris?

SF's new police chief, George Gascon, has some good reasons for supporting District Attorney Kamala Harris for Attorney General, including, as he told Matier and Ross the other day (below in italics), ensuring that she continues to be a good "partner" in fighting crime in SF. His endorsement means they'll continue to have a good relationship even if Harris loses the election. "Gascón said he's not anti-death-penalty but supports Harris' stance because the costly appeals process involved in capital punishment cases makes 'life without the possibility of parole a much more efficient way of handling it.'"

But Harris, unlike Gascon, is philosophically opposed to capital punishment, as she explained more than five years ago, when she refused to ask for the death penalty for a guy who murdered a city cop.That plays well here in Progressive Land, but it may not in a statewide election.

Harris also indirectly injected herself into the Josh Wolf case by writing a sympathetic editorial in the Bay Guardian in support of Wolf's imaginary right to withhold evidence of a crime from the Federal Grand Jury. The crime committed in that case included a fractured skull for city cop Peter Shields. Odd that Harris never injected herself into the case itself. Rather than leaving it to the Feds, why didn't she try to find out who fractured Shields's skull, instead of writing a fuzzball guest editorial in our left-wing weekly worrying about Wolf's First Amendment rights?

On board: Add San Francisco's George Gascón to a list of police chiefs endorsing District Attorney Kamala Harris in her bid for state attorney general.
"I really think she has the characteristics that the state needs today," Gascon told us, in making his first-ever endorsement of a statewide office seeker. "She has proven to be a very good partner for me in fighting crime in San Francisco since I got here 90 days ago."
Harris is hoping that Gascón's backing---along with endorsements from Los Angles Police Chief William Bratton and San Diego Chief Bill Lansdowne---will help inoculate her from the expected rank-and-file cop onslaught over her decision not to seek the death penalty in the 2004 slaying of SFPD Officer Isaac Espinoza, or for Edwin Ramos, accused of murdering a San Francisco man and his two sons in broad daylight last year.
Gascón said he's not anti-death-penalty but supports Harris' stance because the costly appeals process involved in capital punishment cases makes "life without the possibility of parole a much more efficient way of handling it."
Not that Gascón's endorsement is likely to win him a lot of fans in his department.
"He didn't talk to me about it," said Police Officers Association President Gary Delagnes. "If he had, I would have advised against it.
"It doesn't show much sensitivity for what has gone on here," Delagnes said.